From staff reports After waiting extra months for approval from government regulators, Oklahoma City’s Chesapeake Energy announced its merger with smaller rival Southwestern Energy Co. was finally approved, creating the largest natural gas producer in the nation.
The new company will be called Expand Energy. Its headquarters will remain in Oklahoma City, where Chesapeake has a sprawling campus, but a material presence will remain in Houston, where Southwestern Energy is based. The new company is estimated to be worth $24 billion.
Chesapeake stated in its announcement that the waiting period in connection with the pending combination under the Hart-Scott-Rodino Antitrust Improvements Act of 1976 had expired and the merger was expected to close in the first week of October.
The deal was originally announced in January and approval from the Federal Trade Commission was anticipated in the first half of the year. But in April, after 50 Democrats in the U.S. Congress urged regulators to investigate oil and gas company deals, the approval was delayed. The Democrats said they wanted deeper reviews of mergers in the name of protecting consumers and industry competition.
The new company will be publicly traded on the NASDAQ under the ticker symbol “EXE” at the start of trading the day after closing of the merger.
“The world is short energy,” said Nick Dell’Osso, Chesapeake’s president and chief executive officer who will continue as the new company’s CEO.
“With a premium scaled position across leading natural gas basins in the United States, a peer-leading returns program and a resilient financial foundation, Expand Energy is uniquely positioned to compete on an international scale to expand America’s energy reach and deliver opportunity for the world’s energy customers.”
Southwestern Energy’s primary holdings were in the Haynesville play of Louisiana and the merger gave Chesapeake, or the new company, greater expansion into the region.
Chesapeake Energy grew to an incredible size and prestige, then fell and filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection three years ago. But like a mythical phoenix, it is thriving once again.
Dell’Osso, who has been with Chesapeake since 2008, took over the company after it emerged from bankruptcy in 2021.